How big does a Northern pocket gopher get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) reaches an average size of 15.2 cm (0′ 6″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 3.75 years, they grow from 3 grams (0.01 lbs) to 105 grams (0.23 lbs). Talking about reproduction, Northern pocket gophers have 4 babies about 1 times per year. The Northern pocket gopher (genus: Thomomys) is a member of the family Geomyidae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
The northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) was first described in writing by Lewis and Clark, who encountered it on April 9, 1805 at the mouth of the Knife River in what is now North Dakota. These animals are often rich brown or yellowish brown, but also grayish or closely approaching local soil color and have white markings under the chin. They also weigh less than a quarter of a pound (110 grams).Their habitat consists usually of good soil in meadows or along streams; most often in mountains, but also in lowlands.A special note about the northern pocket gopher is that it rarely appears above ground; when it does, it rarely ventures more than 2.5 feet from a burrow entrance. Underground, however, they often have tunnels that extend hundreds of feet where they live, store food and mate.[1]
Animals of the same family as a Northern pocket gopher
We found other animals of the Geomyidae family:
- Southeastern pocket gopher with 1 babies per litter
- Smoky pocket gopher with a size of 21.5 cm (0′ 9″)
- Oaxacan pocket gopher with a weight of 499 grams
- Southern pocket gopher with 2 babies per litter
- Smoky pocket gopher with a weight of 150 grams
- Botta’s pocket gopher with a size of 15.6 cm (0′ 7″)
- Tropical pocket gopher with a size of 17.2 cm (0′ 7″)
- Chiriqui pocket gopher with a weight of 650 grams
- Merriam’s pocket gopher with 1 babies per litter
- Camas pocket gopher with a size of 19.9 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same size as a Northern pocket gopher
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Northern pocket gopher:
- Bower’s white-toothed rat with a size of 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Gorongoza gerbil with a size of 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Glacier rat with a size of 12.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Robinson’s mouse opossum with a size of 15 cm (0′ 6″)
- Kimberley rock rat with a size of 14.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Mindanao mountain rat with a size of 12.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Greater fairy armadillo with a size of 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Moncton’s mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Himalayan field rat with a size of 18.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Mountain water rat with a size of 14.4 cm (0′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Northern pocket gopher
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a Northern pocket gopher:
- Krebs’s fat mouse
- Greater white-toothed shrew
- Rock squirrel
- Least chipmunk
- Gray four-eyed opossum
- Western pygmy possum
- Gunnison’s prairie dog
- Black-tailed prairie dog
- Atherton antechinus
- Pacific shrew
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Northern pocket gopher
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Northern pocket gopher:
- Acacia rat with an average maximal age of 3.5 years
- Raffray’s bandicoot with an average maximal age of 3.25 years
- Silvery mole-rat with an average maximal age of 3.08 years
- Striped field mouse with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Winter white dwarf hamster with an average maximal age of 3.17 years
- Woolley’s false antechinus with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Red-tailed phascogale with an average maximal age of 3 years
- Narrow-nosed planigale with an average maximal age of 3 years
- Golden-rumped elephant shrew with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Alpine pika with an average maximal age of 3 years
Animals with the same weight as a Northern pocket gopher
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Thomomys talpoides:
- Fat sand rat bringing 102 grams to the scale
- European water vole bringing 120 grams to the scale
- Savanna gerbil bringing 121 grams to the scale
- Green bush squirrel bringing 100 grams to the scale
- Large-scaled mosaic-tailed rat bringing 117 grams to the scale
- Voalavoanala bringing 97 grams to the scale
- Peters’s epauletted fruit bat bringing 95 grams to the scale
- Lesser ricefield rat bringing 104 grams to the scale
- Garden dormouse bringing 115 grams to the scale
- Woolly giant rat bringing 116 grams to the scale